Thursday, September 12, 2013

Chris Amemiya: In the Rain Shadow

There’s a Chris Amemiya who
plays trombone, has performed with combos and big bands in Hawaii (his birth
place), Boston and Seattle, and has formed the swinging sextet featured on this
release.

There’s also a Chris Amemiya
who completed his college undergraduate degree at Purdue University, obtained a
PhD in genetics at Texas A&M, received an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in
molecular studies, completed postdoctoral studies in comparative immunology at
the Tampa Bay Research Institute, and another postdoctoral fellowship working
on the Human Genome Project at the Livermore National Laboratory ... not to
mention several other teaching projects. Oh yes, and is a full professor
in the biology department at the University of Washington.

Believe it or not, they’re
one and the same guy.

I’m concerned here with his
musical alter ego, of course, as a Doctor of Jazz. Amamiya’s first instrument
during high school was the euphonium, but by the time he hit college he had
switched to trombone. Although his career in science took top priority, he
never stopped playing and was hooked on jazz early on. He performed with
jazz, blues, salsa and R&B groups, recorded jingles, and ultimately formed
his Jazz Coalescence
sextet in 2006; that’s the straight-ahead unit featured on this album.

The members include Jay
Thomas, a multi-instrumentalist who plays trumpet and flugelhorn on this
release, but also is fluent on the reed instruments and flute; Travis Ranney,
on alto and tenor sax; John Hansen, on piano; Jon Hamar, on bass; and Steve
Korn, on drums. Amemiya handles the trombone chores.

All these players are key
elements in the Seattle/Pacific Northwest jazz scene: first-class musicians who
have played with many bands as sidemen and/or leaders. In this unit, their
melding is particularly noteworthy.

One of the primary
goals for this sextet was to be a group that not only worked well together
(“coalesced”), but featured artists who could produce great solos. To that end,
the average running time for the tunes exceeds 10 minutes, which provides space
for clever ensemble work and solos by all six musicians. Eight composers are
represented; in several cases, arrangements are by members of the group.

My favorite track
is Eubie Blake’s 1930s hit, “Memories of You,” which
is given a complete overhaul
and a grooving meter. Sammy Fain’s “Secret Love” is another seldom-heard melody that glistens
anew.